When it comes to strategic planning, you often hear people talk about the 30,000 foot view. We’ve even talked about it.

The idea, of course, is to get up high enough to see the BIGG picture.

But recently, we’ve really been taking a look at how we plan. We’ve been thinking about the business planning process of the entrepreneurs we coach.

And we’ve reached a conclusion…

The 30,000 foot view is worthless! It’s a bad metaphor.

The 30,000 foot view from ze plane, ze plane
You’re in a plane flying at 30,000 feet. You look down to see the tiny houses and other buildings.

You can see vehicles in motion – there must be a human being inside. But you can’t see them.

You also can’t fully understand the landscape. You can see mountains, but you can’t tell whether they reach a height of a few thousand feet or 10,000 feet plus.

It doesn’t really matter to you – you’re flying over it at 30,000 feet.

But it sure does matter to the people you can’t see – the road over a small mountain is certainly easier to navigate than one over a tall mountain – if there’s a road at all.

At 30,000 feet, you just can’t get the proper perspective.

A better way than the 30,000 foot view from a plane
So we’re convinced we need another metaphor. Let’s descend from 30,000 feet. Let’s land that plane.

What do you say we hop in a helicopter? Let’s look at the view from 3,000 feet?

Of course, the cool thing about a helicopter is we can quickly get even closer to the ground if need be. OR we can quickly rise up if it would be helpful to get a view from a little further from the ground.

OR to get over a really BIGG mountain!

In our helicopter, we’ll really be able to read the terrain. If we see something we want to investigate further, we can hover over it.

We can even land easily just about anywhere if we really want to get the lay of the land. Or talk with the people – the people we want to serve.

We need to put boots on the ground so we can see what they’re experiencing. Then we can jump back into the helicopter to see what lies ahead.

So for planning, we recommend giving up the plane with a 30,000 foot view so you can give a whirlybird a whirl. You’ll gain the perspective you need to reach BIGG success!

What do you think – is entrepreneurial planning best done in a plane at 30,000 feet or a helicopter?